Reignite
by The Sage
Summary: Time Travel! A far more powerful and mature Natsu Dragneel finds himself in the body of his seven-year old self, the day he joined Fairy Tail. Rated for language and violence. Natsu/Lucy.
1. Back Again?

**Reignite  
**The Sage  
**Chapter One  
**Back Again?

**Summary: **Time Travel! A far more powerful and mature Natsu Dragneel finds himself in the body of his seven-year old self, the day he joined Fairy Tail.

* * *

"...and that's why I'd like to join Fairy Tail!"

Makarov Dreyar could not help but stare incredulously at the young pink-haired mage sitting in front of him, magic literally _pouring _out of him. That wasn't even the strangest part about the boy, however – no, the strangest part was his calm, intelligent face that had no place on a young child. His eyes shone with confidence and wisdom that could only be attained through years of experience.

_Who was this boy? _Makarov thought to himself, raising an eyebrow, shifting in his seat, made of books stacked on top of each other.

"So you're telling me you're a Fire Dragon Slayer..." Makarov began, and the boy – Natsu, he recalled – nodded. "And that you want to join the Guild because your dragon abandoned you, and it seems like fun?"

Natsu nodded again, his facial expression not changing. Makarov couldn't help it – he burst out laughing. He toppled backwards, the tower of books crashing to the floor, but he didn't give a damn. His sides hurt from the amount of laughter coming out of him. He continued for several minutes, stopping only to catch his breath.

Natsu's fists clenched, his magic levels raising for a second in anger at not being taken seriously, but it quickly stabilized as he took a calming breath. _This isn't like last time, _he reminded himself. He was far more powerful and mature this time. Something like this would not ruin his 'cool and collected' personality that he so desperately wanted to have. Last time, he had been a laughingstock, barely being taken seriously in battle. If he was going to go through all this again, by the Gods, he was going to be taken _seriously!_

At last the Master's laughs slowly became chuckles and then hiccups until eventually he stopped completely and stared at the rose haired boy, who stared back at him defiantly, challenging him to laugh again.

Honestly, Makarov hadn't wanted to chortle, but he couldn't help it. The boy in front of him, looking the same age as one of his other new recruits, a boy named Gray, looked so serious and had a facial expression that didn't match his body at all... it was ridiculous. But he forced himself to calm down. Even though the boy's mannerisms had caught him off guard, it was nothing to be made fun of. He hadn't missed the twitches coming from the boy, of course, but to remain so calm at the age of seven when a man laughed at you... he felt a tiny bit of respect attach itself to this boy.

It helped, of course, that the amount of power that came off him was unthinkably great. It absolutely _destroyed _the amount of magic anyone in his age group at the Guild, or anywhere perhaps, had. It was greater than Gildarts, one of the most powerful mages in his guild, and in a couple of years, with the right training, could possibly match his and the other Wizard Saints.

But quality was better than quantity – he had already decided that the boy would join the guild, but he needed to _test _his power, to see if he was just a walking mass of magic or if he was a trained fighter that could become something truly incredible in the years to come.

"Come outside with me," his face was serious, and revealed none of the thoughts he was having. "I'm going to test how strong you really are."

Natsu felt a moment of surprise at this new event. This had definitely not happened last time. Last time, it was through constant duels and fights through his years at Fairy Tail that the other members and Makarov had been able to gauge his skill level. But this was a totally unexpected turn of events, though he should have expected it. He had noticed, of course, the amount of magic he had was completely different as to what he had when he really was seven, fifty-seven years ago. _It seems, _Natsu thought grimly as he followed his psuedo-grandfather outside to the training fields, _that I am not going to be able to simply do the same things over again in the same way._

He had known that from the beginning, of course. He could not remember enough events in his past life to be able to perfectly redo his past, but he hadn't wanted to, anyways. There were so many regrets that could be washed away, so many things that could be changed, that he _knew_ that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from doing those things. It was why he hadn't attempted to hide his magic levels, or act the same as he did before the Magical War. He was prepared to make changes, but he hadn't expected the changes to happen so soon.

Shaking his head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts, he noticed that his future master was standing across the field, his magic rising.

_Wait... _Natsu blinked, unable to understand what the hell was going on. _Master's going to fight me? _Emotions ran through him, the most prominent being fear (Master was known to be one of the ten most powerful mages for a reason) and excitement (he had never been able to fight the old man before, and although he wouldn't be able to win, this would definitely leave an impression).

Oh, yes. Natsu did not doubt for a second that he was going to lose. He had only arrived in the past this morning, after all. His body was unsuited to the powerful spells that he had been able to use in the future/past and although he had a little less magic power than he had in the future (he didn't know why, but he'd make damn sure he regained it, and a little more), he didn't have the control. So a spell that was only supposed to drain a thousandth of his magic could take a hundredth instead, and Natsu wasn't sure what the effects of that would be on his fighting capabilities right now.

But even so, he was going to make _sure _that the master remembered him and _make sure _that he became an S-ranked mage as fast as possible. After all, it would be no fun going after small time bandits with the magic he had at his disposal.

"Natsu Dragneel," his master began, snapping him out of his thoughts. He noticed, out of the corner of his eyes, that a rather large crowd – civilians and future guildmates alike – had began to gather. They were obviously interested as to what was going on, and why it looked like one of the most powerful mages in the world was about to fight a seven-year old. "I apologize for not making this fight more fair, but the only other ones who could match your magic are on missions right now. As of right now, I'm the only one who can test your power, and I'm more than willing to. I have never seen Dragon Slayer magic before, and you seem to be a very intelligent and strong mage. If you can manage to fight me for thirty seconds, you will not only be allowed entrance into the guild, but you will start off as a B-class mage." The master's eyes glinted, and Natsu heard snickers in the crowd. Obviously, none of them believed he would last _two _seconds, let alone thirty. He smirked, more than willing to destroy that presumption.

"Rules?" He asked, the crowd jeering and laughing even further when they heard him. It was almost as if he thought he could provide a challenge to a Wizard Saint.

"Try not to severely injure or kill me," Makarov chuckled at his own joke. Macao entered the field, acting as a referee, though no one seriously thought this match would need one.

"Three... two... one... begin!"

Natsu immediately jumped backwards. Makarov had not wasted a second, leaping forward in an incredible burst of speed, his right fist extended to where Natsu had been a second ago. Natsu didn't miss the small grin his master had on his face – he was quite pleased that he hadn't been knocked out in the first hit. Natsu scowled, not enjoying being taken as a joke. Makarov hadn't even used his Titan magic yet.

_Fine, _Natsu grinned inwardly. _Makarov is obviously doing this to test my magic. If he won't his magic, neither will I._

Leaping back into the fray, Natsu immediately engaged the old man in a hand-to-hand fight, their speed unknowingly increasing by the second. The rose-haired boy was having a difficult time. The master delivered brutal blows and his balance was severely thrown off by the fact that he was two feet shorter than he usually was. He had been able to retain his balance when walking, but in this fast paced fight, it was taking all his concentration not to topple over.

Makarov, on the other hand, found himself absolutely astounded. He had at first believed that the boy would fall victim to his first attack, as most people were caught off guard by his speed. But no, the boy had quick reflexes and had been able to dodge it easily. And then, instead of using his magic like the old mage thought he would try to, he began to fight him in hand-to-hand – and _held his ground! _Obviously, the old man was not using his full power, but the fact that this boy could handle half his power was astounding. Most A-ranked mages couldn't even do that! He noticed quickly that the boy seemed to be off-balance, but passed it off as first battle jitters, seeing as the boy probably had never been in combat before this event, although this was not serious.

The old man knew that the boy would not use his magic, which the wizard desperately wanted to see, until he himself did. He knew that from the look the boy had thrown at him when he first attacked with magic. A look that contained annoyance and plainly said '_don't take me as a joke!'_

After this more than incredible fighting, the guildmaster was inclined to oblige. The saint jumped and _grew. _It was an absolutely terrifying sight to behold, but Makarov noted that the boy didn't seem surprised nor did he seem afraid. He actually seemed to become happier, as if the sight of Titan magic was something to be pleased about!

The boy proved his thoughts to be correct when he laughed, revealing sharp canines (_probably an effect of his dragon parentage, _Makarov thought to himself) and lit himself _on fire._

Dully, Makarov realized that they had already been sparring for five minutes, something that only Gildarts could claim to have done before. Realizing that he would have to end this battle quickly if he didn't want his reputation to go up in flames, no pun intended. His fast slammed into the ground where the boy was, expecting to end the battle with that blow, but found himself not only shocked but honest to god _excited _when he saw flames shooting out of the pink haired Dragon Slayer's feet as he jetted himself into the sky to go face to face with the Fairy Tail master.

"Well, well," Makarov laughed heartily. "Who would have thought that a little runt like you could actually amuse me! Hahaha! You have proved yourself to be powerful enough to join Fairy Tail, but I think a little thing like 'pride' is going to force you to continue this battle?"

The boy's normally cool exterior cracked and he grinned widely, his answer to the question being a large ball of fire that was shot from the boy's mouth.

_Holy shit, _Makarov stared at the ball of fire in awe. It was huge, bigger than any fire that Macao or any fire mage that he had ever met could produce. _This _was the power of someone who could easily be an S-rank mage now, if he so wanted to. But power wasn't everything, Makarov thought to himself, narrowing his eyes and searching for the scarf-wearing boy. He had easily dodged the fireball, but it seemed as if the boy had a sharp mind as well, not bull rushing as many his age would and instead using strategies.

_Yes, yes! _The old man's excitement was obvious to anyone who cared to look. This power, this skill, this cunning was far beyond anything he could have expected from a seven year old, or even an adult mage. Not only that, but this boy was nothing like his son – from the brief conversation Makarov had had with him, and the loving words that Natsu had said about his dragon, Igneel, it was clear that this boy had a heart of gold. He could well be witnessing the birth of Fairy Tail's strongest wizard.

But back to the fight – he could not afford to be distracted, there were appearances to keep up after all, and there was no need for people to begin questioning his ability to fight. He decided to bring things up a notch and used his magic sensing abilities to find where Natsu was. It wasn't difficult, the boy was like a solar flare in the night sky, it was impossible _not _to see him. He was like a giant homing beacon. He was going to need to teach the boy how to suppress his magic.

Whirling around, he quickly avoided the boy's flame-encased punch and sent a giant elbow to the back of his skull, but in a flash of fire and sparks, he disappeared.

_What the hell was that? _Makarov was beyond stunned. That was teleportation magic... how could the boy do that? The skills the boy was demonstrating were beyond incredible. To put it bluntly, the poor old man was nearly shitting himself in excitement. This boy could bring a whole new era to the guild...

But it was time to get down to business.

Closing his eyes, he sensed the boy to his left and avoided a haymaker, forcing the redhead to fly even higher to avoid a headbutt. Considering the old man's head was approximately fifty times the size of the boy's, it was a smart move.

Natsu was panicking. _Shit, shit, shit! _Just when things had been looking good for him, he found out that he couldn't use any of his Combination Element attacks. Then his flame teleportation (he seriously needed to think of a name for that spell) drained him of an incredible amount of magic, approximately 100 times the amount that it usually took. It was understandable, the spell was quite hard to control and it had been a surprise when he found out that he could cast it at all. What was worse was that he couldn't _remember _his old attacks! They had become useless when his enemies stopped being lowly grunts and more of the super powerful 'I can level entire towns with a flick of my finger' type, and he had resorted to combination attacks, as well his Ice Fire and other types of flames. But without the physical training, he could not use his other flames, and thus was left without many attacks except for the simple ones.

_Shit, I really need to learn remember or learn more attacks soon, _Natsu thought desperately, barely avoiding a fist that would have tossed him into Edolas had it connected. Unconsciously, he had began going higher, and therefore was surprised when the flames on his feet began to sputter. He had gone really high up, he thought worriedly. The lack of oxygen was going to kill his makeshift jetpack, but if he went any lower he would be in striking range of the master.

_Fuck it all, _Natsu decided. He had shown all the techniques he could use/remember to his master, and he was running low on magic energy. He might as well go out with a bang.

His head flew backwards, and his gut expanded.

"**DRAGON SLAYER'S ****PHOENIX FLOWER**!" he roared, hundreds of burning hot fireballs launching themselves at the Master, who stared at them in interest before demonstrating amazing athletic skill and dodging them all, except one, which he reversed back to Natsu, who simply stared at the old man, realizing that the old man had never seen him do this.

He swallowed the flames whole, stunning the crowd (who had been stunned from the beginning, when Natsu had dodged the master's first attack) and _roared._

Magnificent white hot flames launched themselves at the master, and Natsu attacked again while his Master was distracted, using another one of his attacks that he had remembered in the last few seconds.

Raising his hands and taking a deep breath, knowing this was going to knock him unconscious, he concentrated a large amount of firepower.

"**Armageddon**!" he cried, exhaustion settling in. The old man stared at him, and then glanced at the sky, which had suddenly turned bloody red. Natsu smirked, falling to the ground rapidly but he allowed the last bit of fire he had to slow his descent before turning upwards, wanting to see the fireworks.

Massive fireballs were being dropped from the sky at speeds that threatened to beat the speed of light. There were hundreds, possibly thousands, all aiming for one poor Titan-using guildmaster.

That was the last thing he saw before the world went black.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! It's Sage with my first story after I deleted the other one I had which was pretty embarrassing and terrible. Anyways, this story is pretty much 'Natsu travels back in time' blahblah. It might follow canon for a while but yes, it will eventually diverge though some plot points will stay the same. Anyways, if you're wondering why you didn't get to see more of Natsu's spells and fighting, it's because he can't remember them (it's been, what, fifty something years? Give the guy a break!) and only recalls his elemental combinations and other stuff. But don't worry, that WILL change very soon, and Natsu will not only have his old arsenal of spells, but plenty of others, including one that I thought of right now but was unable to fit in here, a spell called – wait for it – Fire Golem! Hell yeah!

Er, yeah. Anyways, the pairing is 99% guaranteed to be Natsu/Lucy, unless something happens, like Lucy becomes a bitch in the manga or does something to make me really dislike her, though I doubt that's going to happen. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and please leave constructive criticism and excessive flattering (just kidding! But not really) in the reviews.

Oh, another thing. Natsu's not a dumbass in this one. I mean, yeah, it can be endearing at times, but more often than not it's really frustrating and annoying. So expect stupid moments at times for comic relief, but most of the time, he's the mature Natsu who went through a Magical War.


	2. Food for Thought

**Summary: **Time Travel! A far more powerful and mature Natsu Dragneel finds himself in the body of his seven-year old self, the day he joined Fairy Tail.

**NOTE BEFORE YOU READ: **This chapter is really emo and was a pain to write. Do not fear, the angst will end soon. I hate writing it, so there won't be much next chapter and it'll hopefully end after Natsu gets over meeting Lucy (which will happen around Chapter 4 if everything goes according to plan). So please, just bear with it for a few chapters and then it'll be gone.

**Reignite  
**The Sage  
**Chapter Two  
**Food for Thought

* * *

_Blood pooled around the dying form of Makarov Dreyar. The old man's fingers twitched and Natsu Dragneel could only stare in disbelief and horror as his grandfather figure, the one who had been there for him for the majority of his childhood, laid **dying. **And there was not one fucking thing he could do about it._

"_N... Natsu..." the old wizard whispered, his voice weak and soft, immediately coughing up blood after he spoke. Natsu stumbled forwards, dropping to his knees in front of his master and holding his hand, tears refusing to fall. He wouldn't allow himself to cry. There was no place for tears in this war._

"_Old man..." he croaked, a burning sensation in his eyes – no, no! Don't cry, Natsu. Death is inevitable. It happens to everyone and he had killed plenty in this god-forsaken war, so why was the sight of one man dying driving him insane?_

"_You... runt..." the master took a deep breath, his eyes widening a bit in pain. His breathing was shallow and ragged. "Natsu... I don't have much time left. This war is hopeless. We're losing and they haven't even managed to control Zeref yet... but they're close, very close. As soon as they control him, this war is over. We have no chance..."_

"_Don't say such things, master!" Natsu shouted, feeling rage despite himself. How could the old man just give up? He was the one who always said to follow their dreams, no matter what anybody said! So why was he giving up?_

"_Natsu... stop... stop being a kid!" Makarov shouted back before he immediately cursed, pain shooting through his old bones. "Look... under the guild. There's a spell there... you can go back... you can fix everything! You're the only one left who I can trust, Natsu. Please, as my dying wish, go back and **change the world! **The spell will take you many years to master, I began studying it when I was sixty and I still haven't completed it. But you... Natsu... you're a genius under pressure. You **must **learn the spell before the world goes to hell! For me, Natsu!"_

"_Old man..." Natsu could only whisper, tears threatening to fall. He hesitantly nodded._

"_Thank you, Natsu," the old mage seemed to sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "The spell will take at least twenty years to understand and use. You must go into hiding and learn the spell."_

"_But I have to fight!" Natsu argued. "All these people are counting on me!"_

"_Natsu!" The master shouted again, though it was significantly quieter. He was losing energy. "Whether you fight or not is not going to change the world, you have to understand that. Please... please learn the spell! Go into hiding and learn the spell! Lucy, Erza, everyone you cared about is dead! **This is your only chance!**"_

_Natsu stared at the sky for what seemed to be a long time._

"_I understand. I will follow your wishes."_

"_Thank you, Natsu... you have made a dying old man very happy."_

Natsu could only stare at the bland, white hospital ceiling as he recalled the events that had led to his arrival in the past. _I did it, old man... _he blinked back tears, remembering **his **Makarov – because no matter what happened, this Makarov could never be the same one from his time. As soon as he had come to the past with more power and a different attitude, the future that he had known had been destroyed. He hadn't been able to reflect on it when he arrived, too excited by the fact that the spell had actually worked. But now, lying in the hospital ward, he was able to take a breather and just _think. _His family from the future was never coming back. No matter what he did, no matter how he acted, too many things had been set in motion. The simple fact that he had arrived in the past had far-reaching consequences, effects he couldn't even think of right now. He also had to consider the missions he took, the people he met – he couldn't remember the first mission he took with Team Natsu, much less the first mission he ever took. He was going to meet completely new people, and people he knew from the future were not going to know him.

It was a tough pill to swallow. People he cared about might never know him because of the changes he was going to make, but it was a necessary sacrifice. The lives of many came before the happiness of one, Natsu told himself firmly. This was not the time to be selfish.

But that didn't mean he had to be completely selfless, Natsu thought with a grin. After all, if he could prevent his friends from feeling pain – why the hell shouldn't he? A shudder ran through him as he remembered the days and nights Elfman and Mirajane had beat themselves up over Lisanna's 'death.' Although she had come back years later, the pain and guilt that plagued those two had never left, even with her return.

_He could prevent that. _Happiness welled up inside of him – images and fantasies of the things he could change, the things that could be **different** flashing through his mind.

"Jewel for your thoughts?" an amused voice called from the doorway, and Natsu couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in his heart, remembering how many times **his **Makarov had asked him that – before firmly squashing the seed of despair before it was planted.

"I'm wondering if _this,_" Natsu pointed at the thin hospital robe and then the hospital room itself, making it clear what 'this' was. "Is going to become a regular occurrence."

"Hopefully not, m'boy," Makarov entered the room, a small smile playing across his face as he studied the young boy on the bed in front of him, taking note of several scars that were on his body (_dragons must have a tough training schedule, _Makarov thought, only half joking) and the gaze the boy had as he studied his surroundings, clearly memorizing it in case of an attack.

_The mentality of a war veteran, _Makarov thought to himself, frowning. The question was: why did a seven-year old think like a seasoned soldier? As a father and grandfather, it pained him to see the child in front of him looking so... serious. Children were supposed to be happy and carefree, they weren't supposed to look like the weight of the world was on their shoulders.

"So..." Natsu began, breaking the old mage out of his train of thoughts, shooting him a nervous glance. "Did I make the cut? Will you let me join the guild?"

The guildmaster smiled softly. "Of course. I would never turn away anyone, much less a child. Like I told you before, you proved yourself to be more than capable – I just thought it would be interesting to see how powerful you could become. And you've proven to me that you have talent, potential and the drive to become strong. You _will _become powerful, especially while you're in a guild like ours."

Natsu grinned slightly, though he inwardly wondered if he should start playing poker with the amount of restraint and lack of facial emotions he was displaying. He was going to be seeing his old friends again! Not immediately, of course, that would take years, but... still! Mirajane, Lisanna, Elfman, Gray, Levy... his heart began to beat faster. Would he be able to keep up the ruse in front of them? He could only hope.

"Now then," the master spoke. "If you feel strong enough to walk, come downstairs with me. We'll fill out the necessary paperwork together and get you stamped."

_I remember this moment, all those years ago, _Natsu thought with a chuckle. _I was so excited._

But of course, he needed to keep up an image – despite all his talk, Natsu really, _really _wanted to look cool in front of his guildmates and friends. He didn't enjoy being taken as a joke, even though it had been mostly his fault throughout his life – he had been an idiot for far too long, and that had eventually cost his friends their lives.

_He was not going to let that happen again!_

* * *

"Hey," a gorgeous white-haired girl peered at him impatiently from across the counter. "You just gonna stare or do you need something?"

"O-oh, yeah," Natsu smiled, abashed, rubbing the back of his neck. Truthfully, he had not been leering at Mira – _Mirajane, _he corrected himself (she didn't allow people to call her Mira until she became nicer, after the ruined Takeover Trio mission. Though she was strangely nice now... perhaps it was because Erza hadn't joined yet, and so she didn't have a rival?) – though admittedly, she was a rather beautiful girl. He had been trying to prep himself to talk to her, since the only thing Natsu could think of when he saw her face was her body, crushed beneath a boulder. She had protected her siblings till her last breath. _You need to get over this, Natsu! _He reminded himself. What was the point of being cool if he couldn't talk to any of his friends without bursting into tears? "I'm joining the guild and the old man said I was supposed to ask you for the papers and the guild stamp?"

"Mm," she stared at him curiously, not responding to his sentence. "You seem a bit familiar..."

Panic set in – _crap! _Had he messed up this timeline already? What if because of his reappearance in the past, he had a long-lost twin brother who had arrived in Fairy Tail and attacked them? And now everyone thought he was evil so they all -

"Oh, I know!" she clapped her fingers as she remembered. "You're that kid who actually made Master break a sweat in that duel a few days ago! Cana and I drank for the first time that day, so I couldn't remember clearly, but your girly pink hair is very defining."

A noticeable twitch was forming on Natsu's forehead. _Girly... pink... hair? _He wondered if he would have to show her exactly what this 'girly pink-haired mage' was capable of! But it was a lost cause as she hummed and told him she would go to the storage room to get the stamp.

_Something's a bit... odd... _Natsu furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out the strange feeling he was getting. _Hadn't__ the guild usually been... louder? _He turned in his seat and had to bite back a shout of surprise as he realized the entire guild had been staring at him in a mixture of awe and curiosity.

"Uh... hi?" Natsu said weakly, waving his hand sheepishly, as if he had done something wrong. In a choreographed movement, the entire guild turned back to each other, talking and whispering and completely ignoring him. "What the hell?"

"Don't mind them," Mirajane giggled softly at Natsu's confused look. "They're just trying to hide the fact that they're staring and talking about you. After all, it's not every day we get a seven-year old who can force the master to use his magic, you know."

_Maybe this cool personality is working after all! _A mini Natsu cheered inside his head while the real Natsu just grinned. "Well, I am destined to be the most powerful mage in this guild, so maybe that's why."

"I don't doubt that all," the master's wry voice cut into their conversation. "You're a very powerful and intelligent kid, Natsu. I don't doubt for a second that you're going to be making waves in this world."

"Aw, hell," Natsu blushed slightly, unused to the compliments. People didn't usually talk about him this nicely – at least, not in front of him. Lucy had told him that Sorcerer's Weekly had plenty of articles talking about him, and ranked him as the third most desirable male mage in Fairy Tail, though she claimed that was because none of them had the misfortune of actually talking to him, only having heard of his exploits.

"Now, Natsu, what color would you like the guild stamp to be? And where would you like it?"

Natsu didn't hesitate. He had always liked the placement and color of his old guildstamp, so there was no sense in changing it now.

"Red and my right shoulder, please," he replied politely.

"What a gentleman," she flashed him a cute grin and leaned forward to stamp the guild marker where he had asked for it, in red.

"It's time to welcome the newest member to the guild!" The master roared immediately, and cheers were heard throughout the entire hall. "Bring out the beer!"

* * *

A few hours later, Natsu found himself sitting by the riverbank near the guild, staring at the bright moon which contrasted heavily against the night sky. He was so damn confused. He thought he had made a decision back in the hospital, but after the party started and his old friends came up to him to talk, Natsu could barely form complete sentences.

He couldn't look at Lisanna without remembering the bags under her red eyes, tear stains on her face as she punched him over and over again, screaming at him for letting Mira die when he had _promised _to never let any harm come to her or her family.

He had barely been able to give Gray a handshake without remembering Gray clasping his hand, blood dribbling from his lips as he stared lifelessly into Natsu's eyes, having been killed while protecting the guild when it should have been _him._

Pain struck his heart – he had failed to protect his friends. He had known that, of course. But with their happy, innocent faces staring back at him, nonjudgmental and free of the emotional baggage that came from war – it just hit him so much harder.

_He had to protect them!_

"But how...?" Natsu mumbled to himself, staring at his guilt-ridden reflection in the river. "How can I protect everyone when I couldn't do it the first time around? I wish somebody could give me a damn _answer!"_

He shouted the last part and peered around, hoping that some deity would take pity on him and send him a teacher who knew the ins and outs of time travel and could help Natsu save everyone without fucking the entire world up. But of course, he did not have that kind of luck.

_When did you start caring about rules, Natsu? _He thought to himself tiredly, though he knew the answer. He had started caring about rules and all the things that he had never looked at in his childhood when _Lucy _had died, his future – or was it past? - wife to be. Her death had struck him the hardest, not only because she had been his best friend and only love, but also because she had died _for him. _Because the council had decided he was too much of a loose cannon and had sent an assassin after him. Lucy had protected him with her life, giving him the time he needed to prepare himself for combat and saving him.

After that, he had never not followed the rules ever again.

_But that's not going to happen this time! _His inner voice argued. _If you don't break the rules, what was the point of going back in time anyways?_

_People could get hurt! _He argued back, knowing his argument was weak.

_And people will be hurt for sure if you don't break some rules! Stop pussy-footing around, Natsu! You've always been a man of action, not a man of rules or words. Stop being something you're not!_

Natsu sighed. Only he could lose an argument to himself.

He stood up, stretching and staring at the moon before heading back to the dormitories which had thankfully not been destroyed by Gildarts (yet).

He would need a good nights sleep before he began breaking the laws of the universe.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is a really, REALLY bad chapter, I'm sorry. But I need to get this out of the way before I get to the good stuff. As you can see, there's a bit more emotional baggage with Lucy than with any of the other characters, but don't expect Natsu to be a mopey emo kid for long, I hate writing it and I'm sure most of you dislike reading it. But it's necessary for character development – you can't expect a mature adult to go back and suddenly begin breaking rules that hold the universe together, you know? So in a couple of chapters, expect for the emoness to die and for Natsu to be back to kicking ass.

This is a reward for all those kind reviews :')


End file.
